Trying to teach history to multi-cultural middle schoolers taught me one thing–we are all tired of reading about OWD (old, white dudes). They have a place in history, but they shouldn’t have the only place. History is more than government, politics, and owning things. It shapes our current climate and attitudes about everything we do.
In school, we regularly ignore women in history. Sometimes women get a small footnote or nod as an add-on to a bigger lesson. Inevitably, however, lessons are usually taught from an Anglo, male, U.S. perspective. We are missing out on a abundance of amazing stories. There are women scientists, architects, artists, inventors, business leaders, educators, outlaws, activists, peacemakers, warriors, and those who keep it all together. Women sewing dresses out of flour sacks during the Dust Bowl trying to keep food on the table with gardens that won’t grow is every bit as important as the Works Progress Administration’s contributions to men’s pocketbooks. You can’t tell a complete story without both perspectives. That’s what this site is about–the other (sometimes forgotten) half of the story.
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